International Airlines Group

The idea that Ryanair, the Irish budget carrier (and one of my most disliked airlines) would fly to the USA seems to have been raised noisily every other year since 2007. The proposal is always that there will be ultra low cost economy (coach) fares starting at $US15 and a business class service. The transatlantic services would operate under different branding to the main carrier. This same transatlantic idea is then quietly retired each and very time. It almost seems like a free publicity strategy by the carrier to increase its current passneger load (currently 90million per year). On…

What would you consider to be the ten best views from the air? British Airways asked their pilots who fly 180 routes globally to nominate their top ten: Northern Lights- I’d love to see them! Central London – Approach into Heathrow (I wonder how much that is about BA pilots coming home?) Mont Blanc – Pisa Sydney Harbour – on departure from Sydney, Australia Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and bay – San Francisco Greenland – North Atlantic flights Venetian canals – Venice, Italy Cape Town, Table Mountain, South Africa Dubrovnik, Croatia Mount Fuji The survey…

While, I know its pretty much inevitable, I am not a fan of this $11 billion merger. We know that: Merger will be completed by October, 2013 American will be the world’s biggest airline It will have two per cent more air traffic than United Airlines AA will have 6,700 flights to 336 locations in 56 countries The airline will have 1000 planes The new workforce will be close to 100,000 AMR creditors will own 72% of the combined airline and US Airways the other 28% of the ownership The American Airlines name will…

IAG CEO Willie Walsh has thrown down a challenge following nine months of losses at Iberia and a 25% fall in third quarter profit for the group. This week he said: “We want Iberia to be strong and successful. For too long the narrow self-interest of the few has damaged the long-term future for the many. We will not hesitate to take necessary steps to protect the interests of our shareholders.” It looks like Iberia is going through the same medicine that British Airways went through two years ago. The immediate changes are: Iberia capacity will be…

As a kid, I first started plane spotting when I flew through the airports of in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I became expert by the age of six at picking out all of the different tails of airlines. The bright colours of Braniff, the dignified blue of Pan Am, the proud speedbird of BOAC, the Kangaroo of Qantas and the blue and white S of Sabena all were recognisable instantly. Fast forward forty years, and most of those airlines are gone. As an adult, I still like looking at those tails and dream both about the carrier and it…

This week saw the first anniversary of a joint business agreement between American, Iberia and British. Under this agreement, the airlines agreed to co-operate commercially on flights between the United States, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and Norway. The agreement was backed up by anti trust immunity from US and European authorities. Shortly, after the agreement was signed, in January, 2011, Iberia and BA merged into a new company called IAG (international Airlines Group), Europe’s third largest airline group and the sixth largest in the world by revenue. The airlines have combined the strong BA Asian connections with Iberia’s…